Sunday, November 23, 2008

Tangkuban Parahu, Bandung

Hi!

It's been another long silence from this page. My family has purchased an AirAsia ticket KCH-CGK im March 2008 for a November trip. So many things happen in the between until we were not really sure of flying though. However, after checking with many friends, we decided to go forward with trip and booked our hotels through GoHoliday also of AirAsia.

We boarded a delayed flight from KCH at 10pm and arrived at Soekarno Hatta 10.40pm West Jakarta time. We put up at Alpine Hotel, a small cosy place at city centre. However, we were only there for a few hours due to a planned tour to Bandung we bought on the internet. The local agent of Bistur's Tour Mr. Yudi met us at the cafe at 0810 am. We just proceed to Bandung via Bogor-Puncak-Cianjur.

Along the way was the cool mountains surronding Bandung where we saw a lot of tea plantations as well as small farms and orchards. Everywhere were agriculture of all sizes. But the trip to Bandung was capped by the visit to Tangkupan Perahu. The story follows as detailed by our driver cum-guide Mr. Yudi.

Tangkuban Perahu:

There was a the King Padjajaran, the king of Java whom has a princess named Dayang Sumbi. One fine day the princess went to wash in the river and lost one of her embroidery. So the king issued a decree that whoever finds the embroidery will be rewarded by marrying him with the princess. Therefore, all men from all over Java went out to search for the lost item. However, one poor dog named Tumang found the embroidery downriver and kept it. Thence, the gods of the mountains turned Tumang into handsome young man and he went to deliver the embroidery to the king. As decreed, the king marry her princess Dayang Sumbi to Tumang.

After awhile, a prince was born to the couple and he was named Sangkuriang. But Tumang was however turned back into a dog and Dayang Sumbi never tell Sangkuriang that Tumang is his father. One day, when Sangkuriang was a young boy, the mother yearned for deer's liver for a meal. Eager to meet her mother's wish, Sangkuraing launched into the forests to hunt for a deer with Tumang, the dog. After a whole day in the forest, there was no sign of a deer and Sangkuring could not let her mother down. Out of desperation, he aimed his bow and arrow towards Tumang and killed him. He took his liver and brought it to Dayang Sumbi whom did the cooking for dinner. Dayang Sumbi did asked the whereabout of Tumang but Sangkuriang just kept quite.

After dinner, thence Sangkuriang told the mother that he did not find any deer and told his mother that it was Tumang's liver he brought home. Upon hearing that, Dayang Sumbi hit a the back of Sangkuriang's head and he fainted. He was sent to a remote forests of Java. When Tumang is back to his senses he grew up from places in the forests of Java and learned from the wise men and the learned of the island. And soon, when he is a young handsome man, he move back to his root at the Padjajaran City. There he met the ever young beauty Dayang Sumbi and fell in love with her. While courting her and getting into serious dating, Dayang Sumbi accidentally touche dthe back of Sangkuriang's head and realised that it is her son, and told her so. But Sangkuriang does not believe and he insist of getting Dayang Sumbi as her companion. Therefore, Dayang Sumbi set a requirement for their relationship to go on, which is to build a boat overnight. Sangkuriang, being a learned person and expert of all things, he got the services of the genies (ghost?) and satans to work for him at night. The spirits men were very hardworking and Sangkuriang is very confident of completing the boat overnight.

But knowing that Sangkuriang has employed the spirits of the dark to build his boat, Dayang Sumbi asked the villagers around the forests to start working mid-night grinding rice using the 'alu and lesung' which produces great sound of morning and the roosters start to roosts as if it was morning. Upon listening to the rooster and the grinding of rice, the genies and satans employed by Sangkuriang thought it was almost daybreak and refuse to work. Sangkuriang persuaded them to continue working but in vain. The spirits men are so scared of day time and the left the boat halfway completed.

Seeing the boat left in that state, Sangkuriang was infuriated and kicked the boat to the mountain and it turned upside down and settled there and named Tangkuban Perahu.

- the end -

Therefore Tangkuban Perahu is still furious to this date and see the smoke arises from the crater. Well, if you happen to be in Bandung, don't miss this place. It's one of the rarest volcanoe crater that you can drive to and photo yourself at the bank.

Who am I

Native of Sarawak Borneon jungle, schooled by the government in Peninsular Malaysia (thanks to the Sarawak Foundation) and completed college at Serdang, Selangor.
The general environment of Sarawak has changed so much over time and here are my personal views concerning the related issues as well as a place to record my family activities.